Garry's blog

The other day I got sent one of those 'here, have one of our credit cards..' junk mail things through the door. Normally they go straight in the bin, but this one got me a-thinkin'.

It seems to me that banks are starting to ignore the normal people like you and me, and are instead focusing their attention on the minted. Next time you see a HSBC advert on the TV, notice how all the customers they try to help with their savings are minted. Or, how the premier service will help you move house for free. (Check the small print on that one, you have to be minted to qualify)

This theory of mine was reinforced by the credit card application I received. Firstly, the booklet was printed on heavy black paper with nice glossy pictures. Secondly, it offered benefits that sounded a bit poncy to me, and lastly, the application form all but had NO PEASANTS printed on it.

As an example, here's the income section:

Two things. Firstly, there's a 'Millions' section. And secondly it states a minimum of 75k earnings.

Why do they send these things out in mass mailings? Do they not care about wasting (our) money?

....oh.

(PS: Here's the fella: RBS Black Credit Card)

Despite owning a real guitar (I hesitate to apply the term 'player' to myself) and being a keen video game player, I've never before combined the two.

I'd always looked upon the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games with a hint of skepticism. No real reason other than I just didn't see how following along to the little dots on the screen could be any fun. Each to their own and all that but I figured they just weren't for me.

That all changed when Guitar Hero: Metallica was released. Ok, technically it's not released here in Europe, but it's region free so I bought a copy from Canada a few weeks ago. I was always going to buy it, being the slightly obsessive Metallica fan that I am.

It's great!

They've somehow captured the feeling of being in the band and playing the instrument. It's tremendous fun. And, it's the only game I own where my wife and seven year old daughter can all play along with me and have everyone enjoy it. This is helped by the fact I bought the complete instrument set and now have two wireless guitars, wireless drum set and (another) USB mic. There's something special about my little girl singing "The Thing That Should Not Be" whilst I hammer away on a plastic guitar that makes me smile every time.

I suspect it's down to the music. Playing the World Tour version of the game is decidedly flat compared with the Metallica edition. (Apart for Living On A Prayer which has us all singing along as we play).

And as an added bonus, the game allows you to practice whilst it plays the backing track. I recorded that backing track via Garage Band, and it's fantastic for playing real guitar along to!

Rock on \m/

As some of you may know, my good lady wife has had surgery on her foot which has rendered her immobile for a few weeks. (And on crutches for a further eight weeks).

Thi has resulted in my adopting the role of house husband. Now, for most people that's a fairly trivial thing but for me it was quite a shock. As I'm usually at work for 13hrs a day I never get to see what happens during the day and what's involved in maintaining our household (which consists of my wife, me, our seven year old daughter, 2 cats and a tank of fish.)

Those who know Sam (my wife) will know that she earns her sometime nickname of Monica, after the character from Friends. She likes things (overly) clean and tidy. Something I've never been accused of, and never will. So, with some trepidation, I took a few weeks off to assume the role whilst Sam sat and did nothing, as directed by her surgeon.

It's frikkin relentless! There's *always* something that needs doing. I know this is old news to most people, but hells teeth, I've spent years avoiding all this crap and now there's no hiding. I've been educated in the ways of the washing machine (stick two different liquids in it, stuff loads of almost dirty clothes in and press the go button), the tumble drier (take damp clothes from washing machine and stuff em in, turn the dial thingy to 60 and press another go button), the dishwasher (put dirty stuff in, add a tablet thingy, turn the dial to 6 and press yet another go button) and even fried my first egg. Which resulted in a demonstration of how it *should* be done a week or so later.

The main issue as I see it, is a fundamental difference in how men and women do housework. (Yes, I know I'm generalising a tad, but it's my blog so tough banannas)

Sam seems to have lots of rules such as if something has been worn twice then it needs washing. I think that results in too much washing and prefer the more male approach of if you can't tell it's dirty (by either sight or smell) then it is in fact not dirty and in no need of washing at all.

This extends to all aspects of housework and other tasks such as feeding the cats. (They'll soon learn to ask...)

I suspect that over the coming weeks we'll both soften on our approaches and meet in the middle, but so far it's been.... educational.